7s, 8s and 9s in Peter Smith's Leeds Rhinos player ratings after epic victory v Catalans Dragons

Even with Tom Holroyd back on the bench and Catalans losing Mike McMeeken to an injury in the warm-up, there was a gulf in size between the teams. That contributed to Leeds spending much of the match camped in their own half, but they defended magnificently - conceding only one try - and were clinical when they had opportunities, Ash Handley bagging two of their three to take his tally to five tries in three games.

The opening 26 minutes were played entirely in Leeds’ territory, then - in the blink of an eye - they led 10-0. Lachie Miller dropped the kick off and Rhinos made mistake after mistake following that. On weight of pressure, Catalans could have been out of sight, but Leeds refused to concede and then scored two tries in a remarkable smash and grab.

Handley got the first, doing really well to tap on and touch down from Brodie Croft’s kick, despite being held back by Fouad Yaha; then Leeds had their first play-the-ball in an attacking position, almost half an hour into the game and Harry Newman twisted over after Matt Frawley and James Bentlery had handled. Newman was whacked around the head by Tariq Sims as he scored, so the Dragons man was sin-binned - the first of four yellow cards in the game - and Rhyse Martin, who had missed both conversion attempts, tagged on the penalty.

That was cancelled out by one from Arthur Mourgue a couple of minutes before the interval. The same player cut the gap to two with the conversion after Chris Satae smashed his way over early in the second half, then levelled the scores after Justin Sangare was sin-binned for not much of a high tackle on Alrix Da Costa.

At that stage it seemed Catalans would finally get the upper hand, but a high shot by Jordan Dezaria on Croft made it 12 v 12 soon afterwards and Rhinos went back in front with 13 left. Luis Roberts, Newman and Leon Ruan did really well before Handley went over from Cameron Smith’s looping pass and Martin nailed the touchline conversion.

He put two scores between the sides with six left after Romain Navarrete was yellow carded for holding down Sangare to complete an memorable and deserved victory, in front of a crowd of 14,168. The penalty count favoured Rhinos seven-four, after being two-two at the break.

Leeds Rhinos: Miller, Roberts, Newman, Momirovski, Handley, Croft, Frawley, Sangare, Ackers, Goudemand, Bentley, Martin, Smith. Subs Holroyd, McDonnell, O’Connor, Ruan.

Catalans Dragons: Mourgue, Johnstone, Romano, Ikavalu, Yaha, Abdull, Fages, Bousquet, Da Costa, Navarrete, Sims, Sironen, Garcia. Subs Nikorima, Satae, Dezaria, Seguier.

Referee: Chris Kendall (Huddersfield). Attendance: 14,168.